Pittsburgh Public School officials explain the need to push back start date

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Public Schools administrators, including superintendent Dr. Anthony Hamlet, held a question and answer session to address concerns about their decision to push the first day of school back to September 8th.

The main reason for the need to push back the start date has to do with the lack of bus drivers, and the inability to get kids to school.

First the start date was pushed back — now we are seeing a proposal for staggering start times throughout the school system. While leaders are still ironing out the details when it comes to their back-to-school plan, recently they’ve announced new staggering start times for schools within the district.

The new times will allow each bus to make up to three runs each morning and afternoon in an effort to deal with the bus driver shortage.

“We are not an exception. I know that i work with surrounding districts and every district surrounding is extremely short. But our highest impact as that we are responsible for 30,000 students,” PPS Director of Transportation Megan Patton said.

Tier one start times are between 7:15 and 8:05 a.m. and include high schools, 6-12, and special schools. Tier 2 schools would be scheduled for 8:25 a.m., including most neighborhood schools and the Student Achievement Center. And Tier 3 is a 9:25 a.m. start, which includes magnet schools and schools that have kids coming in from all over the city.

“When we were coming up short on seats for students, we knew we had to make district wide start time changes. These start time changes are linked to the tentative agreement with the PFT (Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers),” Assistant Director of Construction and Planning Mike McNamara said.

And district start times are a part of the tentative agreement which requires ratification by the teachers union and approval of the board.

President of the Pittsburgh Teacher’s Union, Nina Esposito-Visgitis said members are reviewing it and want kids back in school.

“We are anxious to get our kids back and hopeful the district finds initiative ways to bring our kids back. We want every kid and student back in their seats,” Esposito-Visgitis said.

Right now the district is 436 drivers short, and nearly 11,000 kids do not have a ride to and from school.

Covid-19 and the common cold: what you need to know before kids go back to school

©2021 Cox Media Group